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Open Source (Free) Software for Mac Users

April 2, 2010 — Mrs. Mecomber

I’m a PC-user and a Mac-user. And I’m a cheapskate and I like free software.

I am always hearing news about this-or-that program for PC users, but Mac users are somewhat left out in the cold. So I did some intensive searching and discovered a site that lists some excellent Mac software. Best of all, most of the stuff is free! It’s Open Source Mac. Of the programs that I have tried (and love) are these:

Adium for instant messaging
Bean a word-processor
XPad a superb, simple word-processor (my favorite)
Audacity for editing music and sounds
Xee an image browser
Freemind for making notes, etc
Stellarium a very cool interactive celestial map
Pixelmator a photo-editing program– but it’s not free. There’s a nice trial version, but the full version costs $60

I can’t say I am crazy about Adium, just because the duck mascot is a little too toyish and childish. But it works well.

Hey you Mac users, got any other suggestions? I use a G4 processor, so that limits my choices a lot. GIMP and OpenOffice look great, but they require Intel processors. Bummer.

Posted in computers, free programs. Tags: Apple, Mac, MacIntosh, software. Comments Off »

Keep Track of Your Internet Bandwidth Usage

March 10, 2010 — Mrs. Mecomber

I found out about this handy little program from Kim Komando. By the way, if you don’t listen to her radio show or get her emails, I suggest you do! When i was a new computer user, some ten years ago now, her show was immensely helpful. Today, she discusses less about computers and more about computer gadgets (such as iPhones, iPods, etc, which are useless to me), but I still glean a lot of good stuff from the broadcasts.

Anyway, this latest download is called AnalogX NetStat Live. It will monitor and measure your bandwidth– incoming and outgoing– as well as CPU usage. This is a great way to keep tabs on your bandwidth usage, especially if you have an ISP that charges by bandwidth or gives you a monthly cap, this is what you need to measure your usage. You’d have to install the NetStat Live on all computers on the network, and total up the Incoming Totals and Outgoing Totals across all computers. That will tell you the bandwidth you’ve used. The software is free.

Posted in desktop utilities, free programs, Internet, surveillance. Tags: bandwidth usage, ISP. 1 Comment »

Toodling with Torrents

November 27, 2009 — Mrs. Mecomber

I am not very familiar with torrent files, but I am slowly getting into them. Torrents are small bits (bytes) of software or files that are downloaded, piece by piece, and fitted together to make a whole. Think of torrent files as a big jigsaw puzzle: the pieces are individual and scattered, but when you accumulate the pieces and fit them together, it creates a picture. Torrents are popular for large software and shareware programs (which is why I have been starting to get into it), and in other cases, torrents are popular for movies (which are huge, huge files and nearly impossible to download all at once on a slower IP connection) and music torrents. One blossoming website that has a treasure-trove of torrents is Queen Torrents. It’s a simple website– you search for the files you need for that movie, song, game, or whatever. It’s free, too. Queen Torrent is always accumulating new stuff, too.

Be aware that downloading torrent files of copyrighted material is not illegal per se, but compiling the material together when you have all the files probably is illegal in some countries. So when in doubt, don’t download copyrighted material!

Remember, I’m a pro-blogger and I am sometimes compensated with stuff or money to review or mention products or services! This was one of them. You can read more about my blog policy on my My Pledge page.

Posted in free programs, Internet. Tags: files, free programs, torrents. 2 Comments »

Learn the Constellations with Stellarium

November 26, 2009 — Mrs. Mecomber

I think I mentioned this excellent software program before, but it’s worth mentioning again. It’s called Stellarium, and it’s a planetarium for the computer. My son absolutely loves it, and he’s learned some new things about the program to show us. One very cool feature is the ability to view constellation art, with major star and constellation lines. We are learning about the constellations and the gospel of Jesus Christ in them, so this is a very useful resource these days.

This screenshot shows just one of many different things you can do with the program.

I’m so impressed with the software! And it’s free!

Posted in educational programs, free programs. Tags: astronomy, science. 2 Comments »

Finally! Free File Compression Software

November 18, 2009 — Mrs. Mecomber

There are SO many super free software programs out there. I am amazed that some of them are free, because they are so good, like OpenOffice, Gimp, Irfanview, Comodo, and others. But for years, file compression software is NOT free. WinZip has held the line at #1, for some od reason– because it is not free! And after the evaluation period, there’s a nag screen that never goes away! I don’t think WinZip is so hot that I need to pay $40 for it…. I mean, file compression?! Who uses that stuff every day?

Then there was WinRAR. I downloaded it free on a computer a couple of years ago. But it looks like WinRAR is no longer free (and I found it hard to use). :-p This is simple file compression software we’re talking about. I could never understand why the amazing stuff like OpenOffice or ? was free, and WinZIp and WinRAR were not.

Ah! But I have JUST discovered some FREE file compression software! Donwload.com featured it– it’s 7-zip. It’s very, very basic– no bells and whistles here. But it work with all Windows operating systems, and it’s free! I don’t need fancy fil compression siftware program– just something simple that does the job when I have a job to be done. It’s free, it’s good. Check it out if you want.

Posted in desktop publishing, free programs. Tags: file compression, WinZip. Comments Off »

Neaten Your Desktop With Fences

November 12, 2009 — Mrs. Mecomber

I downloaded this freeware two weeks ago from Download.com, after reading their review. I absolutely love it! I am a neatnik, and I love having a neat, organized desktop. Fences is the answer! It’s created by Stardock, a reputable company; when I used Windows ME and XP, they created skins and other skinning programs that I liked and used.

It’s free to use. It seems to take up few computer resources, but I have a pretty powerful computer; so Fences works without a hitch. The nice thing about Fences is that you can create new ones, rename them, delete them, move them, etc. Best of all, if you double-click on the desktop, all the Fences will disappear! I love this. Double-click again, and they reappear. A great piece of freeware!